Home Office

Offences against Children: Databases

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 214786, what access police forces have to the internal child abuse database set up on the closure of Childbase.

Mike Penning: The internal database in question is used by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command of the National Crime Agency (NCA), and was used by the CEOP Centre before it, to store indecent images of children identified in the course of investigations. Childbase could only be accessed by CEOP officers. UK Police Forces were able to request checks on the database images and hash sets. These checks were completed by the Victim Identification Team at CEOP. This process has remained in place for checks against the internal NCA-CEOP database which replaced Childbase. Following an information assurance process and before its closure, all of the intelligence held in Childbase was transferred into this new internal database.The Government is currently working with the NCA and police forces to introduce the national Child Abuse Image Database, which will act as a single repository for all indecent images of children and their hashes identified as part of UK enforcement operations.

Offences against Children: Databases

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures she has put in place to enable images identified by (a) the Internet Watch Foundation, (b) the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, (c) Interpol and (d) other international law enforcement bodies to be added to the Child Abuse Image Database.

Mike Penning: Holding answer received on 08 December 2014



All access to the Child Abuse Image Database will be covered by formal agreements with the relevant parties. These agreements are being developed. It is absolutely our intention to receive images from a wide range of sources, including the Internet Watch Foundation, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Interpol, and law enforcement partners internationally.

Law and Order

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in leadership roles within law enforcement agencies.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to (a) provide support for the recruitment of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller police officers and (b) in other ways improve relations between the police and the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in front-line law enforcement roles.

Mike Penning: The Government is committed to improving diversity in policing: in a modern, diverse society it is essential to building the trust and confidence of all communities.This Government’s reforms will allow for faster progress on equality and diversity. We established the College of Policing, which has embarked on a major programme looking at recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers and has recently published advice on positive action for police forces. We are actively engaging with the College, and forces to ensure this work is taken forward, providing access to key diversity data to evaluate progress within forces, and publishing workforce diversity data online for the public on police.uk. We have also introduced different routes into the police through the Direct Entry schemes and by supporting the development of ‘Police Now’. These schemes have received a more diverse range of applicants compared to the existing police workforce. For example, the ‘Police Now’ scheme received 1,248 applications, of which 48% were from women, and 19% from people of black or ethnic minority backgrounds. This is in contrast to the current representation levels in the Metropolitan Police, where only 11% of police officers are from an ethnic minority background and 25% are women.We have also established Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) with responsibility for the totality of policing in their areas, including ensuring that community needs are met, and that forces secure the trust and confidence of the public. Decisions on when and how to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of a police force. We welcome the launch of the Gypsy, Roma Traveller Police Association this year, whose aims include fostering better relations between the police and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. This shows that policing takes equality and diversity seriously and is taking steps to address issues that matter to all communities.

Dangerous Dogs

Mr Michael Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the annual cost to the police of the enforcement of section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Mike Penning: The cost of policing the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is a matter for each police force and is not held centrally.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Students: Banruptcy

Mr David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many undergraduate students resident in (a) Suffolk, (b) the East of England and (c) England have declared themselves bankrupt in each year since 1997.

Greg Clark: The information requested is not available.